thereupon to enquire diligently into the cause thereof and seeking to find it Nay this was the design of the blessed Peter and therein he imitated the Holy Scripture Whether to counterfeit or blaspheme the Scriptures be the worse I cannot tell but of this I am sure that they who think such courses lawful as this fastned on S. Peter and the Holy Scripture here will stick at nothing which they take for their advantage For that it was lawful to counterfeit S. James his Name he proveth afterwards very largely and now he is giving the reasons of it One intention was to stir up all people to Enquiry their admiration at so strange a thing being very prone to make them diligent to learn the cause of it Another was that all Bishops might see the more clearly that they were taught in the person of James For James being dead and uncapable of receiving the instruction it is evident that he was not intended thereby and therefore it must be for others in his capacity A third reason was the preventing of envy for had S. Peter vouchsafed being our Saviours Vicar and Head of the Church to write to any Bishop alive the Honour done unto that Bishop had been so great that all the rest had been tempted to maligne him shrewdly for that advantage His intention was saith he to transfigure these things in the person of James after the manner of the Holy Scripture and that as well for other Bishops as especially those that should succeed him in the Church of Jerusalem whence the preaching of the Gospel began according to the Prophesie of Isaiah that they might thus think with themselves If the Prince of the Apostles commanded Clement to write these things to James the Brother of our Lord whom Peter James and John did first of all ordain who now ceased to be a Shepherd and was rewarded with his Crown he certainly did not command him to write for his sake but for us to whom Solomon saith Look diligently to the face of thy Cattel and consider thy Herds c. Let this saith he be one cause of the Transfiguration or counterfeiting a person in this Epistle Having noted how S. Paul transferred a certain business on himself and Apollos by a Figure he concludeth thus Why therefore may we not think that S. Peter for the same reason commanded Clement to transfer his Epistle concerning his Death and Doctrine pertaining in common to every Bishop by a Figure to S. James already dead lest if he should have commanded him to have written to Simon the Bishop of Jerusalem who succeeded S. James or to any other as to Mark the Bishop of Alexandria or Ananias of Antioch or any other he should then perhaps seem to love him or honour him more than the residue Much more he saith to this purpose but all made vain with one small observation Whereas he pretends that Clement knew S. James to be dead there is a 〈◊〉 Epistle written by the same Clement To his most dearly beloved Brethren dwelling at Jerusalem together with his dearest Brother James his Fellow-Disciple So that S. James after all was still thought to be alive by those that transferred this Epistle on S. Clement by a Figure S. Peter's influence over the Bishop of Jerusalem and our Lords Brother was thought a considerable Circumstance for the Establishment of the following Popes And till the Protestants discovered the Fraud let Turrian say what he will there was scarce a person in the World that thought not the Letter timed well enough for the purpose And whereas he pretendeth so many and so great Testimonies of the Ancients confessing the Epistle to be S. Clement's he is not able nor does he so much as attempt to name one from S. Clement downward till this Spurious Isidore that affirmed any such matter Howbeit he quotes Origen Theodoret Gregory Nazianzen c. to prove the lawfulness of a Transfiguration and makes great Ostentation of the Fathers in shewing that S. Peter and S. Clement did wisely in the business CAP. VIII Of Peter Crabbe's Tomes of the Councils Wherein he agrees with and wherein he differs from Isidore and Merlin BEsides the Forgeries that are in Merlin and the Bastard Isidore Peter Crabbe whose Tomes of the Councils were published eight years after the first Edition of Merlin published more of as great importance as the former not omitting those of Isidore and Merlin but recording and venting them altogether He pretends to give an account of all those Councils that have been from S. Peter the Apostle down to the Times of Pope John II. He wrote before Turrian as Carranza and Surius did whom it is Turrian's business to defend The End being proposed before the Means with what design these Editions of the Councils are so carefully multiplied we may conjecture by a Treatise that is set in the Front of them concerning the Roman Primacy Almost all the Compilers after Peter Crabbe having prefixed the same with one consent before their Work as the Aim of their ensuing Labours It is extant in Crab Surius Nicolinus Binius Labbe and Cossartius and the Collectio Regia Carranza hath it not nor Paul V. Paul V. in his own Work published at Rome Anno Dom. 1608. touches the Forgeries but very sparingly It does not become the Majesty of a Pope in his own Name to utter them It is moreover a thing of hazardous consequence for him to appear in Person in such a disgraceful business It besits his Holiness to act rather by Emissaries and Inferiour Agents as all great Statesmen and Polititians do being unseen themselves in matters that reflect too much upon their safety that Method you know is more stately as well as more Honourable and secure Yet he approveth others at a distance as his dear Son Severinus Binius in particular who dedicated all his Tomes to Pope Paul V. in the year 1608. and has a particular Letter of Thanks from Pope Paul himself as a Badge of his Favour before the Work As for Carranza he is but an Abstract or brief Compendium This Treatise of the Primacy thus put before the Councils containeth a Collection of Testimonies out of Counterfeit Epistles of the Primitive Bishops and Martyrs of Rome proving under the Authorities of most Glorious Names that the Holy Apostolical Church obtained the Primacy not from the Apostles but from our Lord himself that it is the Head and Hinge of all the Churches that all Appeals are to be made thereunto the greater causes and the contentions of Bishops being to be determined only by the Apostolical See that she is the Mother of all Churches and as the Son of God came to do the Will of his Father so ought all Bishops and Priests to do the Will of their Mother that all the Members ought to follow the Head which is the Church of Rome that the first See ought to be judged by no man neither by the Emperour nor by Kings nor
with Her And if nothing else be the Roman Church but a Pope and Council 〈◊〉 the Roman Church is but a blinking 〈◊〉 There is no Roman Church upon this account sometimes for two or three Ages together for she always vanishes upon the 〈◊〉 of the Council The Roman Church is in a great 〈◊〉 but she may thank herself She threw her self into this Peril by making her self a Schismatick an 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 She first breaks the Rule and if the Pope and his Doctors about him be the Roman Church as they certainly must needs 〈◊〉 for all that depart from 〈◊〉 shall be Schifmaticks if the Head of the Church and all the Members that cleave unto it be the Roman Church she first brake the Rule and then forged Ancient Canons in the Name of the Nicene Council to defend her Exorbitancy she cut her self off from the true Church in the sixth Council of Carthage by a perverse inveterate obstinacy and to acquit her self afterwards laid the Curse and Scandal upon others She pretends at least that the most Holy Churches were Excommunicated that 217 Bishops in a Sacred Council Alypius S. Augustine Aurelius and all his Collegues were puffed up with pride by the Instigation of the Devil and accursed by a Dreadful Excommunication for so it is in the Epistle of Bonifaee 2. to Eulalius And now she hath nothing left to support her Enormity but that Greatness alone which by these Forgeries she hath acquired and maintained These Thorns are never to be pulled out but the Veins and Sinews will follow after For in rejecting these Thorns in her sides all her Authority Infallibility Antiquity Tradition Vnity Succession Credit and Veracity is gone As for Baronius and the way he takes a man may safely throw away the Sword when he has killed the Enemy but the Church of Rome is not arrived to such an happiness Politicians pull down the Ladder by which they have gotten up to the Top of their desires But the case is altered here They are undone if the Ladder be removed To acknowledge these Helps to be Forgeries is their apparent Ruine Some Papists use these Counterfeits by vertue of which their Predecessors acquired and established their Empire as Vsurpers do Traytors by whose villanous help they are seated in the Throne But they can never wash off the Guilt they have contracted nor make the Act or the Crime committed once to be again undone After 700 years enjoyment of the Benefit they begin to slight the means of acquiring it But it is because they cannot help it The Cheat is detected and they would sain perswade the World they are Innocent of it All of them either hold these things to be Forgeries or if Forgeries to be none of their The Confession is not Genning like 〈◊〉 of S. Peter rather it is awkward 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like that of Apiarius 〈◊〉 Confession the sixth Council of Carthage observes to be sorced For after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 obstinately persisted as long as possible in an impudent denial reviled his Judges abused the Roman Chair disordered the Church and inflamed the World when God had brought him into so vast a strait that he could do no otherwise then the Fraudulent Dissembler as they call him fled to Confession but the Root of his Malevolence he retained in him Some Papists confess these Forgeries but deny them to be theirs They confess the things but justifie themselves The things they say are Forgeries but themselves no Forgers And whether of the two be the greater Impudence is hard to define They confess the Fraud but make no Restitution All their Drift is to save their Skin when one pretence is broken they fly to another nay they go on to quote these things even now they confess them where they are not detected they still do quote them and wish still they were as able to conceal and defend them as ever For for one that knows them they meet with a thousand that are ignorant of those devices There they dissemble their Conviction and hide their Confession with the Ignorant and before such make shew of these Frauds as of great and glorious Antiquities though like Proteus they transform themselves into other shapes before the more Learned They find it meet and necessary to fail with every Wind and to adapt themselves fitly in their discourses both to them that know them and to them that know them not with them that know them they seem to decry the Impostures These things I speak not to the poor simple seduced Papists who did they believe and know these things would abhor them to the Death but to the Seducers themselves who so delude the Ignorant and are by all Methods ever busie in carrying on the Cause of the Temporal Kingdom of the Church of Rome as by their obstinate practises is most apparent Baronius himself bewrayeth his Confession to be without any purpose of amendment even by the Defence he maketh for his good Old Friend the Bastard Isidore A Jerom of Frague or a John Huss a Latimer or a Ridley though never so holy and pure in other things were to be cursed with Bell Book and Candle if the least Errour appeared in them that reflected on the Popes Security Though never so Innocent they were with all violent fury pursued to the Fire But if a man have this one Vertue of maintaining the Popes Interest he may lye and cog and cheat and forge abuse Apostles Councils Fathers and be followed by an Army of Popes and Doctors becoming a Zealous and Venerable Saint notwithstanding Hincmarus of Rhemes could hardly escape for offering to mutter against Isidere But Isidore himself because he did the Pope Service though he be a Sacrilegious person and deserves all that can be called Bad for the incomparable height and depth of his Villany yet he is received to fair Quarters and well esteemed of by Cardinal Baronius Testimonium illi perhibeo utar verbis Apostoli saith he quod Zelum habuit sed non secundùm Scientiam c. I will give him this Testimony and here I will use the words of the Apostle He had a Zeal but not according to knowledge For because the contention of Aurelius Bishop of Carthage Augustine and other African Bishops seemed to him a little more hot than it should be with Boniface and Celestine the Roman Popes in the Cause of Apiarius the Priest he supposed it expedient in that Epistle which he feigned in the name of Boniface to patch up what was cut away But away with these things The Church of God is not founded nor does it lean upon Chaff it self being the Pillar and Ground of Truth Baron Martyrol Octob. 16. I will not note how he abuseth the Scriptures nor how he wresteth the words of the H. Apostle to cover a filthy piece of Knavery nor yet in what sense he maketh the last words which he uttereth to sound concerning the Roman Churches being her self the Pillar and Ground of Truth
Bishop usurped an Authority which neither Scripture nor Canon gave unto him It is recorded also that they sometimes acquitted Malefactors without hearing Witnesses and sent Orders for the Restauration of those who made such irregular flights into the Provinces of other Patriarchs that were Subject indeed to the Roman Empire but not within the Province of the Roman Patriarch Nay when those Orders were rejected if some of their own Collectors may be believed the Roman Bishops through favour of the Empire got Magistrates and Souldiers to see them executed by Plain force which grew chiefly scandalous in the times of Zozimus and Boniface of which you may read the three last and best Collections of the Councils set forth by the Papists Binius 〈◊〉 abbè and the Collectio Regia unanimously consenting in their Notes on the sixth Council of Carthage And that this was the cause of calling that Council they confess in like manner For to stop these intolerable Incroachments and to suppress the growth of an Aspiring Tyranny this seasonable Council was called at Carthage consisting of 〈◊〉 Bishops among whom S. Augustine was one present in particular To this Council Zozimus the Roman Patriarch sent three persons one of which was Faustinus an Italian Bishop to plead his Cause with two Canons fathered upon the Nicene Council designing thereby to justifie his Power of receiving Appeals both from Bishops and Priests but by the care and wisdom of that Council they were detected and confounded the Fraud being made a Spectacle to the whole world For first the Copy which Caecilianus Archbishop of Carthage brought from Nice he being himself one of the Fathers in that Council was orderly produced and the two Canons which the Roman Bishop sent were not there Next because it might be pleaded upon the difference of the Copies that the Copy of Carthage must give place to that of Rome Rome being the greater See they sent Messengers to the Patriarch of Alexandria to the Patriarch of Antioch and to the Patriarch of Constantinople and admonished the Bishop of Rome to do so too that he might see sound and fair dealing desiring the Records of the Nicene Council from all the principal parts of the world from the Patriarchs of Constantinople and Alexandria they received Authentick Copies attested with their several known Authorities which agreed exactly with the Copy at Carthage but disagreed with that of Rome the Extract produced out of it by the Name of a Commonitorium being every word apparently forged Upon this the Bishop of Rome was condemned his Arrogance and Usurpation suppressed by Canons and his Pride chastised by Letters the Letters and Canons being yet extant This was done about the year 420. Zozimus dying Boniface and Celestine successively take up the Quarrel without any Dissent appearing in the Roman Clergy nay rather all the Interest of that Chair was imployed to uphold the Forgery whereby it is evident that it was not a Personal Act but the guilt and business of the Church of Rome as appeareth further by all their Successors persisting in the Quarrel by the multitude of her Members defending it and the Forgery both and by all the Popish Collectors conspiring together to maintain the Spurious and Adulterate Canons Among other things which the Fathers wrote out of this Sixth Council of Carthage to Pope Celestine they oppose the true Canons of the Nicene Council against the false ones noting that which is alone sufficient to overthrow the Forgery that these two Popish Canons were really contrary to the Canons and Decrees of the Nicene Council For desiring him no more so easily to admit Appeals nor to receive into Communion those that were Excommunicated in other Churches they tell him he might easily find this matter defined in the Nicene Council for if it seemed fit to be observed in the inferiour Clergy and Lay-men much more in Bishops They tell him that he should chastise and punish such impudent Flights as became him As also that the Canons of the Nicene Council had most openly committed both the inferiour Clergy and Bishops themselves to their own Metropolitans wisely and justly providing that all businesses whatsoever should be determined in the places where they arose Nisi fortè est Aliquis c. unless perhaps there be some one who will say that God is able to give Justice of Judgment to one be he who he will but denies it to innumerable Priests assembled in a Council Which was in those days held so absurd and monstrous a thing to conceive that however the case is altered since they thought no man impudent enough to affirm it In these words they cut the Popes Arrogance sufficiently for that he being but One was so highly conceited of himself at least so behaved himself as if he had an extraordinary Spirit of Infallibility and were fitter to determine the Causes of the Church than a whole Council of Bishops assembled together Finally they charge him with bringing the empty puff of secular pride into the Church of Christ And so proceed to their Canons against him Notwithstanding this the Roman Bishops continued obstinate contending so long till there was a great Rupture made in the Church upon this occasion And if some Records be true namely those Letters that past between Eulalius and another Boniface the Bishops of Rome grew so impudent as to Excommunicate the Eastern Churches because they would not be obedient to an Authority sounded on so base a Forgery If they be not true then there are more Forgeries in the Roman Church than we charge her with For the Letters were feigned as Baronius confesseth by some afterwards that were zealous of the Churches welfare to wit for the better colouring of that Schism which was made by the pride and ambition of Rome These Epistles were set forth by the Papists and were owned at first for good Records but upon the consideration of so many Saints and Martyrs that sprung up in the Churches of Africa during that 100 years wherein it is pretended by those Epistles that they were cut off from the Church of Rome it was afterwards thought better to reject them as Counterfeits because the Roman Martyrologies are filled with the names of those African Saints And it is a stated Rule that no Saint or Martyr can be out of the Church Lest the Eastern Churches therefore should out-weigh the Roman by reason of the Splendour Multitude and Authority of these Eminent Saints these Letters are now condemned by some among themselves vid. Bellarm de Rom. Pont. lib. 2. cap. 25. Baron in Not. Martyrol ad 16. Octobr. and Bin. in Concil Carthag 6. This unfortunate Contest happening so near to the Fourth Century was the first Head-spring or Root of the Schism that is now between us And the matter being so on whose side the fault lay I leave to the Reader How the Roman Church proceeded in this business we may learn from Daillè an able Writer
mentioneth the foresaid business at Carthage but so briefly that it is clear he did not like it And to close up all in the Life of this Boniface he endeavours to strengthen the Title of the Roman Bishop against the Patriarch of Constantinople by the Donation of Constantine another Forgery of which hereafter The two counterfeit Canons contained in the Commonitorium which the Roman Bishop sent to the sixth Council of Carthage are these as Faustinus the Italian Bishop delivered them in Greek to be read by Daniel the Pronotary in the Council 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. We are pleased that if a Bishop be accused and the Bishops of his Country being assembled together have judged him and deposed him from his Degree and he thinks fit to Appeal and shall fly to the most blessed Bishop of the Roman Church and shall desire to be heard and he shall think it just that the Tryal be renewed then he the Roman Bishop shall vouchsafe to write to the B. shops of the adjoyning and bordering Province that they should diligently examine all and define according to the Truth But if any one thinks fit that his Cause be heard again and by his own Supplication moves the Bishop of Rome that he should send a Legate or Priest from his side it shall be in his power to do as he listeth and as he thinketh fit And if he shall decree that some ought to be sent that being present themselves might judge with the Bishops having his Authority by whom they were sent it shall be according to his judgment but if he think the Bishops sufficient to end the business he shall do what in his most wise counsel he judgeth meet Here the Roman Bishop nay the meanest Priest he shall please to send as his Legate is exalted above all Councils Bishops and Patriarchs in the world he may do and undo act add rescind diminish alter whatsoever he pleaseth in any Council when the Causes of the most Eminent Rank in the Church do depend in the same All Bishops are by this Canon made more to fear the Roman Bishop than their own Patriarch and are ingaged if need be to side with him against their Patriarch the Gate is open for all the Wealth in the World to flow into his Ecclesiastical Court which is as much above the Court of any other Patriarch by this Right of Appeals as the Archbishops Court above any inferiour Bishops while we may Appeal to that from these at our pleasure Thus Bishops and Patriarchs are made to buckle under the Popes Cirdle and the Decrees of Councils are put under his foot And all this is no more but half a Step to the Popes Chair The other part of the Step in this Commonitorium was the following Canon concerning Priests 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. I ought not to pass that over in silence that does yet move me If any Bishop happen to be angry as he ought not and be suddenly or sharply moved against his Priest or Deacon and would cast him out of his Church Provision must be made that he be not condemned being Innocent or lose the Communion Let him that is cast out have power to Appeal to the Borderers that his Cause might be heard and handled more carefully for a Hearing ought not to be denied him when he asks it And the Bishop which hath either justly or unjustly ejected him shall patiently suffer that the business be lookt into and his Sentence either confirmed or rectified c. What is the meaning of this c. in Binius Labbè Cossartius and the Collectio Regia I cannot tell but doubtless the Canon intends the same in the close with the former that the last Appeal is reserved to the Roman Chair which made the Fathers in the sixth Council of Carthage so angry as we find them to see things so false and presumptuous fastned upon the first most Glorious Oecumenical Council which decreed the clean contrary in the 4 and 5 Canons The substance and force of which as we gave you before so shall we now the words of the Canons themselves Can. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. It is fit that a Bishop chiefly be ordained by all the Bishops that are in the Province but if this be found difficult either because of any urgent necessity or for the length of the journey then the Ordination ought to be made by Three certainly meeting together the absent Bishops agreeing and consenting by their Writs but let the confirmation of the Acts be given throughout every Province to the Metropolitan Can. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Concerning those that are Excommunicated whether in the Order of the Clergy or the Laity by the Bishops in every several Province let the Sentence prevail according to the Canon that they who are cast out by some be not received by others but let it be required that no man be excluded the Congregation by the pusillanimity or contention or by any such vice of the Bishop That this therefore might more decently be inquired into we think it fit that Councils should every year throughout every Province twice be celebrated That such Questions may be discussed by the common Authority of all the Bishops assembled together And so they that have evidently offended against their Bishop shall be accounted Excommunicated according to to reason by all till it pleaseth the community of Bishops to pronounce a milder Sentence upon such But let the Councils be held the one before the Quadragesima before Easter that all Dissention being taken away we might offer a most pure Gift unto God and the second about the middle of Autumn The last Appeal you see is ordered by the Canon to Councils and as they please the Controversie is to be ended without flying from one to another Bishop These are the true and Authentick Canons of the Nicene Council overthrown by the Forgery CAP. III. A multitude of Forgeries secretly mingled among the Records of the Church and put forth under the Name of Isidore Bishop of Hispalis Which Book is owned defended and followed by the Papists THe Roman Chair being thus lifted up to the utmost Height it could well desire care must be taken to secure its Exaltation After many secret Councils therefore and powerful Methods used for its Establishment for the increase of its Power and Glory furthered by the Luxury and Idleness of the Western Churches of which Salvian largely complains in his Book De Providentiâ written to justifie the Dispensation of GOD in all the Calamities they suffered by the Goths who sacked Rome in the days of the forenamed Zozimus there came out a collection of Councils and Decretal Fpistles in the Name of Isidore Bishop of Hispalis about the year 790. In which Book there are neatly interwoven a great company of forged Evidences or feigned Records tending all to the advancement of the Popes Chair in a very various copious and
Love but a pretext to patch up and cover Forgery Yet let us hear what Binius and Baronius say concerning these Matters For though the Epistle be never so formally set down and a Lie written in the Top both of the Epistle and the Page Cornelii Papae Epistola 1. And again The sirst Epistle of Pope Cornelius yea though Binius saith in his Notes on this Epistle that S. Jerom witnesseth Cornelius to have written many Epistles and that this therefore is undeservedly taxed for its faith and authority which has gotten so famous a Witness as Jerom. Yet after all this though among other Circumstances of Importance it hath been laid down as a Good Record by Binius his Ancestors he saith That it doth attribute to Cornelius the Translation of the H. Bodies of Peter and Paus from the Catatumbae which is if I mistake not from the meaner Graves of the Common people Id ex Libri Pontificalis Erroribus in Epistolam irrepsisse probabile c. That that crept in into this Epistle from among the Errours of the Pontifical seemeth probable For more truly that Translation happened in the first Age a little after their Passion As by the testimony of S. Gregory the Pope we demonstrated above Surely the feet upon which this Peacock stands are very Black The pride of Rome is founded like that of the great Whore on the waters at least if not in the mire If you examine What or Where this Testimony of S. Gregory is that overthroweth this Epistle of Cornelius a Person much more Ancient and Authentick than himself and with what Circumstances or with what form of words Binius maketh use of the same Let your patience turn to Binius his Notes on those Words in the Pontifical Hic Temporibus c. in the Life of Cornelius and there it shall be satisfied CAP. XIX The ridiculous Forgery of the Council of Sinuessa put into the Roman Martyrologies How the City and the name of it was consumed though when no man can tell by an Earthquake MARCELLINVS the Bishop of Rome entered on his See about the year 296 in the dayes of Dioclesian The Pontifical in the Life of Marcellinus telleth us that he offered incense to an Idol to escape the wrath of the Emperour Binius saith When Marcellinus the Roman Pontisex was therefore accused because in the Temple of Vesta and 〈◊〉 he burnt incense and offered Sacrifice to Heathen Images and Idols to wit that of Jupiter and Saturn 300 Bishops came together in the City Sinuessa to pass their Sentence on the Fall of Marcellinus The place of meeting was the Crypta Cleopatrensis which fifty one after another could enter it not being able to contain them all by reason of its straitness After the discussion of the Cause and condemnation of certain Priests Marcellinus the chief Bishop publickly confessing his Sin 〈◊〉 Sackcloath sprinckled with ashes prostrate on the ground acting Repentance said I have sinned before you and cannot be in the Order of Priests and so condemned himself by his own Sentence ¶ After those of Magdenburg the English Innovators reject this Convention of 300 Bishops as if it were feigned by the Donatists Because they think it improbable that in this 20. year of Dioclesian wherein the fiercest Flame of Persecution burned and the Anger of the Emperours did rage more bitterly against the Christians throughout all the Roman world 300 Bishops should be assembled together Bin. Not. in Vit. Marcellin By the way I must tell you that the English do upon several accounts besides that of the Persecution reject this Council of Sinuessa however it pleaseth Binius to ease himself of labour by mentioning only that Neither do they fasten it on the Donatists but the Papists For though Marcellinus be made a Donatist in opinion his Confession being founded on that Doctrine that no man guilty of mortal sin can though penitent continue in the Order of Priests Binius himself puts the Doctrine into his mouth while other Doctrines relating to the Popes Supremacy and other Persons defending this Council shew plainly enough whose it is notwithstanding the present Mist which Binius putteth before our eyes Hear him on But if no fear of the Persecution of Decius saith he could hinder them but that about sifty years before this as we said in our Notes of the Roman Council held in the Interregnum many Bishops of the Remoter Provinces and many others neighbouring on Italy and living in hanishment came together upon the Letters of the Roman Clergy at Rome and holding a Council there ordained those things which the present necessity of the Church did require Why should it seem more distant from the truth that by the most vigilant care of the Roman Clergy the Bishops of Forreign Churches should be called together by Circular Epistles and no fear or Danger of Life deterring them meet at the time and place appointed to transact and decide that cause of all other the most deplorable in which not only the Roman Church but the whole Christian Religion was brought into the greatest Hazard wherein the whole Foundation of the Church was shaken in the first Bishop of the Catholick Faith and almost utterly overthrown Binius you see consesseth the Truth that Mercellinus did offer Incense 〈◊〉 an Idol and that the Gates of Hell had well nigh prevailed against S. Peters Chair in the Idolatry of his Apostate Successor That therefore they might imitate God though the perverse way in bringing Good out of Evil the matter is so neatly ordered that the Ball reboundeth higher by its Fall the Weakness of Marcellinus increases the Popes power and his Disgrace is turned to his Greater Glory His slip is made the establishment of all his Successors For a Council of 300. Bishops is raised up by the Invention of the Papists which do all of them most humbly beseech the Cuilty Pope to condemn himself and Decree with one Consent that the Sovereign Bishop of the City of Rome can be condemned by no body For out of thine own mouth thou shalt be justified and out of thine own mouth thou shalt be condemned It is an important Point and no witness fit to be lost that giveth Testimony thereunto Concerning this Council therefore on the Words Act a Omnia The saith Though exceeding many among the most learned of men have endeavoured to prove those Acts to be Spurious and of no weight truly by Strong Arguments and would esteem it as no other than a Device of the Donatists cunningly contrived that the Name of Marcellinus well accepted of among all the Ancients and had in great Esteem should be defamed We nevertheless conceive the same Acts to be not only not Commentions or forged to be ascribed to the Donatists but rather to be had in great Veneration both because venerable Antiquity it self fighteth Sharply for them compelling a Reverence even from the unwilling by its majesty and because by the Common Assent of all being
and were Apostatical rather than Apostolical and that some of them came not in by the Door but were Thi ves and Robbers That it is not impossible to forge Records for the Bolstering up of Heresies those counter eit Gospels Acts Epistles Revelations c. that were put forth by Hereticks in the Names of the Apostles do sufficiently evidence which being extant a little after the Apostles decease are pointed to by Irenaeus condemned in a Roman Council by Gelasius and some of them recorded by Ivo Cartonensis in a Catalogue lib. 2. cap. 〈◊〉 The Itinerary of Clement and the Book called Pastor being two of the number I note the two last because S. Clement in his first Epistle to S. James is made to approve the one and Pope Pius in his Decretal magnifieth the other Which giveth us a little glympse of the Knavery by which those Ancient Bishops and Martyre of Rome were both abused having Spurious Writings fathered upon themselves for had those Instruments been their own they would never have owned such abominable Forgeries But of this you may expect more hereafter Cap. 16. and Cap. 17. These aggravations and degrees of Forgery we have not mentioned in vain or by accident In the process of our discourse the Church of Rome will be found guilty of them all except the first which is beneath her Grandeur and in so doing she is very strangely secured by the height of her impiety For because it does not easily enter into the heart of man to conceive that men especially Christians should voluntarily commit so transcendent a Crime the greatness of it makes it incredible to inexperienced people and renders them prone to excuse the Malefactors while they condemn the Accusers But that the Church of Rome is guilty in all these respects we shall prove not by remote Authorities that are weak and feeble but by demonstrations derived from the Root and Fountain I will not be positive in making comparisons but if my reading and judgment do not both deceive me she is guilty of more Forgeries than all the Hereticks in the world beside Their greatness and their number countenance the Charge and seem to promise that one day it shall pass into a Sentence of Condemnation against her CAP. II. Of the Primitive Order and Government of the Church The first Popish Encroachment upon it backed with Forgery The Detection of the Fraud in the Sixth Council of Carthage IT is S. Cyprian's observation that our Saviour in the first Foundation of the Church gave his Apostles equal honour and power saying unto them Whose soever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them and whose soever sins ye retain they are retained Cyprian Tract de Simpl Praelator The place has been tampered with but unsuccessfully For though they have thrust in other words into the Fathers Text in some Editions of their own yet in others they are left sincere As Dr. James in his corruption of the Fathers Part. 2. Cap. 1. does well observe But the most remarkable attempt of the Papists is that whereas they have set a Tract concerning the Primacy of the Roman Church before the Councils containing many Quotations out of the Bastard Decretals which they pretend to be extracted ex Codice antiquo out of an Old Book without naming any Author closing it with this passage of S. Cyprian they leave out these words of Scripture Whose soever sins ye remit c. as rendring the Fathers Testimony unfit for their purpose You may see it in Binius his Collection of the Councils c. When the Apostles had converted Nations they constituted Bishops Priests and Deacons for the Government of the Church and left those Orders among us when they departed from the world It was found convenient also for the better Regiment of the Church when it was much inlarged to erect the Orders of Archbishops and Patriarchs The Patriarchs being Supreme in their several Jurisdictions had each of them many Primates and Archbishops under him with many Nations and Kingdoms allotted to their several Provinces every of which was limited in it self and distinct from the residue as appeareth in that first Oecumenical Council assembled at Nice An. Dom. 327. where it was ordained Can. 6 that the ancient custom should be kept the Jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome being expresly noted to be equal to that of the other Patriarchs In the two preceding Canons they ordain 1. That in every Province Bishops should be consecrated by all the Bishops thereof might it consist with their convenience to meet together if not at least by three being present the rest consenting but the confirmation of their Acts is in every Province reserved to the Metropolitan 2. That the last Appeal should be made to Councils and that the person condemned in any Province should not be received if he fled to others Can. 4. and 5. In the first of these Canons it was ordered that the chief in every Province should confirm the Acts of his Inferiour Bishops the Patriarch of Rome in his and every other Patriarch in his own Jurisdiction In 〈◊〉 last if any trouble did arise that could not be decided by the Metropolitan provision was made in words so clear and forcible that none more plain can be put into their places that the last Appeal should be made to Councils 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But the City of Rome being in those days Queen of the World and lifted up above all other Cities as the Seat of the Empire the Bishop thereof began to wax proud in after-times and being discontented with the former Bounds invaded the Jurisdictions of his Fellow-Patriarchs For though the Foundation upon which the Government was laid was against it yet when persons were Immorigerous if any Bishop were censured by his Metropolitan or Priest excommunicated by his Bishop or Deacon offended with his Superiour who chastised him for his guilt though the Canon of the Church was trampled under foot thereby which forbad such irregular and disorderly flights the manner was for those turbulent persons to flee to Rome because it was a great and powerful City and the Roman Bishop trampling the Rule under foot as well as others did as is confessed frequently receive them Nay their ambition being kindled by the greatness of the place it tempted them so far as to favour the Delinquents and oftentimes to clear them for the incouragement of others invited by that means to fly thither for relief till at last the Cause of Malefactors was openly Espoused and while they were excommunicated in other Churches they were received to the Communion in the Church of Rome Hereupon there were great murmurings and heart-burnings at the first in the Eastern Churches because Rome became an Asylum or City of Refuge for discontented persons disturbing the Order of the Church spoiling the Discipline of other Provinces and hindering the Course of Justice while her
hateful Forgeries But who could suspect that so much Fraud could be Ushered in with so fair a Frontispiece or so much Sordid Basene s varnished over with so much Magnificence I have heard of a Thief that robbed in his Coach and a Bishops Pontificalibus of the German Princess and of Mahomet's Dove But I never heard of any thing like this that a 〈◊〉 should trade with Apostles Fathers Emperours Golden Bulls Kings and Councils under the fair pretext of all these to Cheat the World of its Religion and Glory His Grandeur is rendered the more remarkable and his Artifice redoubted by the Greatness of his Retinue Riculphus Archbishop of Mentz Hincmarus Laudunensis Benedictus Levita the Famous 〈◊〉 and his fourscore Bishops Ivo Cartonensis Gratian Merlin Peter Crab Laurentius Surius Carranza Nicolinus Binius Labbè Cossartius the COLLECTIO REGIA Stanistaus Hosius Cardinal Bellarmine Franciscus Turrianus c. Men that bring along with them Emperours and Kings for Authority as will appear in the Sequel Men who think it lawful to Cheat in an Holy Cause and to lye for the Churches Glory These augment the Splendour of his Train Their Doctrine of Pious Frauds is not unknown And if we may do evil that good may come certainly no good like the Exaltation of the Roman Church can possibly be found wherewith to justifie a little evil The Jesuites Morals are well understood Upon their Principles to do evil is no evil if good may ensue Perjury it self may be dispenced with by the Authority of their Superiour An illimited Blind Obedience is the sum of their Profession To equivocate and lye for the Church that is for the advancement of their Order and the Popes benefit is so far from sin that to murder Heretical Kings is not more Meritorious It is a sufficient Warrant upon such grounds to James Merlin our present Author that he was commanded to do what he did by great and eminent Bishops in the Church of Rome as he sheweth in his Epistle Dedicatory To the most Reverend Fathers in Christ and his most excellent Lords Stephen and Francis c. the one of which was Bishop of Paris and the other an Eminent Prelate who ordered all his work by their care and made it publick by their own Authority Conceiving nothing saith he more profitable for the Commonwealth I have not dissembled to bring the Decrees of the Sacred Councils and Orthodox Bishops which partly the blessed Isidore sometime since digested into one partly you most Reverend Fathers having confirmed them with your Leaden Seal gave me to be published in one Volume For every particular appeareth so copiously and Catholickly handled here which is necessary for the convicting of the Errours of mortal men or for the restoring of the now almost ruined World that every man may readily find wherewith to kill Hereticks and Heresies The Protestants being grown so dangerous that they had almost ruined the Popish World by reforming the Church nothing but this Medusa's Head of Snakes and Forgeries was able to affray them The nakedness of the Pontisicians being discovered they had no Retreat from the Light of the Gospel but to this Refuge of Lies Where every one may readily find saith Merlin wherewith to kill Hereticks and Heresies to depress the proud to weary the voluptuous to bring down the ambitious to take the little Foxes that spoil the Vineyard of the Church By the proud and ambitious he meaneth Kings and Patriarchs that will not submit to the Authority and Supremacy of the Roman Church and by the little Foxes such men as the Martyrs in the Reformed Churches the driving away of which was the design of the publication That he meaneth Kings and Patriarchs in the former you will see in the Conclusion And if any one shall hereafter endeavour to fray and drive away these Monsters from the Commonwealth what can be more excellent saith he than the stones of David which this Jordan shall most copiously afford If any one would satisfie the desires of the Hungry what is more sweet and abundant than the Treasures which this Ship bringeth from the remotest Regions but if he desires the path and splendour of Truth by which the clouds of Errour with their Authors may best be dispelled and driven far away what is more apparent than the Sentences of the Fathers which they by the Inspiration of the Holy Ghost have brought together into this Heap For here as out of a Meadow full of all kind of Flowers all things may be gathered with ease that conduce to the profit of the Church or the suppressing of Vices or the extinguishing of Lusts. Here the most precious Pearl if you dig a little will strait be found c. Here the Tyranny of Kings and Emperours as it were with a Bit and Bridle is restrained Here the Luxury of 〈◊〉 and Bishops is repressed If Princes differ here peace sincere is hid If Prelates contend about the Primacy here THE ANGEL OF THE GREAT COUNCIL discovers who is to be preferred above the residue c. Are not the Roman Wares set off with advantage here How exceedingly are these Medicines for the Maladies of the Church boasted by these Holy Mountebanks The stones of David that kill Goliah the River that refresheth the City of God the Food of Souls the Ship the very Argonaut of the Church that comes home laden with Treasures from unknown Regions are but mean expressions the Inspirations of the Holy Ghost the Pearl of Price Angelus ille Magni Concilii the Angel of the Covenant are hid here and all if we believe this dreadful Blasphemer declare for the Pope against all the World Here is a Bit and Bridle for Kings and Emperours a Rule for Patriarchs and what not The Councils and true Records we Reverence with all Honour due to Antiquity And for that very cause we so much the more abhor that admixture of Dross and Clay wherewith their Beauty is corrupted Had we received the Councils sincerely from her we should have blest the Tradition of the Church of Rome for her assistance therein But now she loveth her self more than her Children and the Pope which is the Church Virtual is so hard a Father that he soweth Tares instead of Wheat and giveth Stones instead of Bread and for Eggs feedeth us with Scorpions We abhor her practices and think it needful warily to examine and consider her Traditions What provisions are made in Merlin's Isidore for repressing the Luxuries of Popes and Bishops you may please to see in Constantines Donation and the Epilogus Brevis In the one of which so many Witnesses are required before a Bishop be condemned and in the other care is taken for the Pomp. of the Clergy even to the Magnificence of their Shooes and the Caparisons of their Horses As Merlin who was a Doctor of Divinity of Great Account so likewise all the following Collectors among the Papists derive their Streams from this Isidore
the first Collectors of the Councils among the Papists I have taken the more liberty to be somewhat copious in them that I may conveniently be more brief in perusing the residue CAP. VII Of Francis Turrian the Jesuite With what Art and Boldness he defendeth the Forgeries NOtwithstanding all the weakness and uncertainty of Isidore Francis Turrian the Famous Jesuite appears in its defence about 40 years after the first publication of it by Merlin The Centuriators of Magdenburg having met with it to his great displeasure he is so Valiant as not only to maintain all the Forgeries therein contained but the whole Body of Forgeries vented abroad by all the Collectors and Compilers following till himself appeared His Book is expresly formed against the Writers of the Centuries and is a sufficient Evidence that as soon as Isidore came abroad by Dr. Merlin's Labour and the Bishop of Paris Command it was sifted by the Protestants It is dedicated to the most Illustrious and most Reverend D. D. Stanissaus Hosius Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church and Bishop of Collein Printed by the Heirs of John Quintel and approved by Authority An. Dom. 1573. He defends all the Canons of the Apostles which are recounted by other Collectors That you may know the Mettal of the Man I will produce but two Instances The last of those Canons which he maintaineth to be the Apostles is this which followeth Qui Libri sunt Canonici c. Let these Books be Venerable and Holy to you all Of the Old Testament five Books of Moses Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy one of Joshua the Son of Nun one of Judges one of Ruth four of Kings two of Chronicles Hester one three of the Macchabees one of Job one Book of Psalmes three of Solomon Proverbs Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs one of the 12 Prophets one of Isaiah one of Jeremiah one of Ezekiel one of Daniel And without let your young men learn the Wisdom of the Learned Syrach But of ours that is of the New Testament there are four Gospels Matthew Mark Luke and John fourteen Epistles of Paul two Epistles of Peter three of John one of James one of Jude two Epistles of Clement and the Ordinations of Me Clement set forth in Eight Books to you Bishops which are not to be published to all because of the Mysteries contained in them and the Acts of our Apostles This is the eighty fourth Canon and in some Accounts the eighty fifth where you see the Episiles of Clement and Eight Books of his Ordinations put into the Body of the Bible As for the difference of the Accounts he sheweth you the way how to reconcile them If this be one of the Apostles Canons then Clement was an Apostle or had 〈◊〉 Power But if it be a Forgery then not only the Apostles Canons but the very Text of the Holy Scriptures is interlined and forged by the same He maintains all the Decretal Epistles and among the rest S. Clement's Whose genuine Epistle to the Corinthians they leave cut as making nothing to their purpose but five Spurious ones they record the two first of them being written to S. James and the last to the Brethren dwelling with him at Jerusalem It is good sport to see how like the shot of a great Gun the Discovery of the Protestants comes in among them Their keenness in detecting the time of S James his Death shatter the 〈◊〉 and whereas before they were all united they now fly several ways every man 〈◊〉 for himself as he is best able Baronius dislikes suen Arts of upholding the Church not as impious and unlawful but as inconvenient and pernicious Bellarmine 〈◊〉 the Epistles to be Old but dares not attest them Isidore Merlin Peter Crabbe Nicolinus Carranza and Surius own them freely without any scruple For saying nothing of the Quarrel they lay them down simply as good Records Binius Labbè and the Collectio Regia confess some of them to be false and in particular that S James was dead seven years before S. Clement could write his first Epistle to him And to salve the sore they say that it was not written to James but to Simeon who was also Bishop of Jerusalem and Brother to our Lord and that the Name of James crept into the Title Mendosè by Errour and Mistake for that of Simeon But honest Turrian maintains plainly that S. Peter and S. Clement knew very well that S. James was dead before they wrote unto him yet nevertheless they did very wisely both S. Peter in ordering the Epistle and S. Clement in writing it And his Reasons as he bringeth the matter about are pretty specious For my part I protest that such a High Piece of Impudence was to me incredible But that you may see the rare Abilities of a Jesuite to argue well for the absurdest Cause turn to his Book and read his Comment on S. Clement's first Epistle and there you shall see Wit and Folly equal in their height Wit in managing but Folly in attempting so mad a business For the sake of those who are not able to read or get the Book I will give you a Glympse of his Demonstrations First he observeth how Reason it self compelleth us especially being confirmed by so many and so great Testimonies of the Ancients to confess the Epistle to be S. Clement's whose it is reported to be He sophistically pretendeth here that there were great Authorities of the Ancient Fathers extant to prove it Whence saith he it began to be had in every mans hand to be read by the Catholicks to be put among the Decretal Epistles and produced and cited in Ecclesiastical Causes and Judgments The latter part of which Clause is true For as we before observed Gratian Ivo and the rest of the Popes Ministers have brought the Decretals into the Body of the Canon-Law which maketh the matter more fatal and abominable for being really cited in their Ecclesiastical Courts and used both in matters of Controversie and in cases of Conscience they are forced either to defend them or to pluck up their Customs by the very Roots and so further expose the Church of Rome to the shame of Levity or Fraud yet for this very cause it is far more impious and wicked to retain them So that not knowing which way is best some of them retain them and some of them renounce them But you must wink at all this and believe what Turrian says for the Authority of the Roman Church which hath seated the Forgeries in the Chair of Judgment is a greater Argument to them that believe her Infallible than any one Doctor can bring against them Neither was blessed Peter ignorant when he commanded to write to the Dead nor Clement saith he when he wrote by the Commandment but that the Readers would presently see the Epistle to be written to him whom all men knew to be dead before S. Peter they being about
be made obscure But as Thieves by dropping some of the Goods by the way are oftentimes detected or Murderers by forgetting the Knife behind them so doth the Great and Just GOD infatuate the Pope of Rome against whom this Council was asiembled and smite his Agents with blindness here and at other times their heart faileth them because of Guilt so that not daring to make thorow work with the Councils they faulter and are detected Here is a rare case all the Copies of the Nicene Council throughout the World were imperfect 1200 years ago both among the Greeks and among the Latines only those at Rome were valid and Authentick For the Councils of Carthage were reckoned among the Latines as you may see by Isidore and Merlin placing them in that number and that justly for the African Fathers that pertained to Carthage wrote in Latine as S. Augustine Fulgentius Tertullian c. They were Naturalized so far that Latine was almost their Mother-Tongue as Justellus observes out of S. Augustine and yet these that were Allied to the See of Rome so near were at one with the Greeks in the Records controverted None were good at Carthage Constantinople or Alexandria c. but only those which the Pope produced in his own Cause Nor were any like his upon the Face of the whole Earth besides At first I admired to see those Canons of Carthage so abruptly cut off by Binius where I happened first to miss them but when I afterwards found them by the help of Justellus I saw the reason The Roman Bishop was curbed though that of Anacharsis concerning Laws proved true Laws are like Spiders Webs they detain Flies but Hornets break through them Nicolinus having intimated the lameness and obscurity of the Narration goeth on thus It is probable that Celestine wrote back sharply and would have the Appeals of Priests from their own to the bordering Bishops and of Bishops themselves to the Roman Chair established and valid The Pope would have it so notwithstanding all contradiction Forasmuch as they were founded on Right and cusiom and upon the Nicene Canons which were kept entire it is credible in the Roman See as they were extant in the time of Mark. It is credible Was ever such Impudence known before They were not able to urge one Argument why it should be credible and yet this credibility must overthrow all the Evidence in the whole World But they were kept entire in the Roman See as they were extant in the time of Mark. This spoileth all for by referring you to Mark he appeals to the Epistles of Athanasius to Mark and of Pope Mark to Athanasius concerning the number of the Nicene Canons Which Epistles of Mark and Athanasius by invincible reasons urged by Binius as well as the Authorities of Baronius Labbè and the Collectio Regia are evidently proved to be very Forgeries He gives you more of these audacious Guesses He says it is credible that they were contained also among the Canons of Sardica which Celestine sent it is probable unto them But that the Africans rested not satisfied either because they suspected those Canons to be corrupted or for some other cause it is shewn in the Epistle of Boniface the H. to Eulalius of Alexandria concerning the Reconciliation of Carthage which happened about 100 years after The more you stir this business the more it stinks The Epistles made in the name of Eulalius and Boniface concerning the Excommunication of the churches of Africa for 100 years past down so fair to Nicolinus that he took them for good Records and doubtless he thought it well enough that the African Fathers were Excommunicated for opposing the Popes Opinion So that the Quarrel rose very high or what we before observed was very true these Epistles of Boniface and Eulalius were invented to colour the Popes Cause and disgrace the Fathers Take it which way you please it smells ill Baronius and Bellarmine had rather they should be Counter 〈◊〉 His probability about Celistine's sending the Canons of Sardica to Carthage fares little better Celestine knew very well the Canons of Sardica would not do in that Council Nicolinus cannot produce one syllable in proof to make it probable that he sent them thither and his flying to Sardica is in an evil hour for it is opposed by 〈◊〉 Bishops so great that they have frighted Rome out of her Excommunication who altogether testifie no less than twelve hundred years ago that no Synod of the Fathers made any such Canons And if Sardica were no Synod what will its Canons signifie The Popes then living and concerned never attempted so vain a shift but positively affirmed and maintained still that they were the Nicene Canons only the Council of Sardica is pretended of late and some new men now the business is over perswade us they did all mistake while the matter was in agitation both at Rome and Carthage and that themselves have more clear and piercing judgments to see into a business so far off better than all the Fathers Admit those Canons were made at Sardica it was a gross Errour to Father them upon the Nicene Council for the Authority of Sardica is not to be compared with that of Nice Sardica was unknown to all the Council at Carthage S. Augustine thought it an Arrian Council as Binius in his Notes upon it observeth and Bellarmine puts it among the partly Reprobated And that which induceth me to believe those Canons now extant in the name of Sardica to be forged is that they were first produced in Zozimus his Counterfeit and Fathered upon Nice And there being a Council once it is now pretended that there were two there that these Bastards disowned at Nice might have a Sanctuary somewhere and find some Fathers My conjecture is made considerable because the Canons now Fathered upon Sardica are contrary to those of Nice And it is not probable that two Catholick Councils so near should so suddenly Decree things contrary to each other nor that the same Fathers that were at Nice when they came to Sardica should change their minds with the place of their Session That there were no Canons of Sardica known till the time of Dionysius Exiguus is very probable because they were not in the Code of the Vniversal Church nor in the African Code till Dionysius Exiguns put them in as Jacobus Leschasserius most excellently proveth Whether Dionysius or Hadrian put them in is to me uncertain But Hadrian I. first gave the Copy of Dionysius to the Emperour Charles whence the old Manuscripts were transcribed which are now extant in several Libraries and in which the Dedication of Pope Hadrian is contained in Verse To his most Excellent Son King Charles c. The first Letters of the Verses being put together make this Acrostick EXCELL FILIO CARULO REGI HADRIANUS PAPA The Verses are found in the Copies yet extant of Dionysius Exiguus This shews that some New Thing was put
the Imperial Seat which the Roman Princes had possest and granted it to the profit of the blessed Peter and his Bishops Which considering what follows is far more fit to be understood of the Emperours leaving Rome and granting it to the Bishop whence they pretend he did go on purpose So that the agreement between Optatus Milevitanus and the Epistle of Melchiades is very small or none at all But admit that Melchiades and Optatus Milevitanus had said both of them that the Lateran was given to Melchiades what is that to the Dominion and Temporal Kingdom A single House instead of an Empire Though that the House was given Optatus Milevitanus doth not affirm even by Binius his own confession How the things in this Epistle should be concerning the Donation of Constantine to Melchiades and Sylvester is difficult to conceive because Melchiades was dead before the Donation was made to Sylvesier It is very unlikely therefore that Melchiades should make mention of that Donation His Epistle talking of Constantine his being President in the H. Synod that was called at Nice is a manifest Imposture Melchiades being dead before the Nicene Council as is before observed Yet hence it is proved that Constantine 〈◊〉 a Donation to Melchiades and Sylvester Binius holdeth fast the Donation though he lets go the Epistle Like a Lo gician who lets go the premises but keeps the conclusion For it is most firmly proved by Optatus Milevitanus What is proved by him That Constantine the Great gave the Lateran to Melchiades How is it proved Why he testifieth that a Council of 19 Bishops met in Fausta's house in the Lateran Truly he doth not expresly write that the house was given to Melchiades But it seemeth probable to Binius his imagination And so it is most firmly proved by Optatus Milevitanus a most approved Writer Thus those things that are told concerning the Dominion and Temporal Kingdom given to the See of Rome are manifestly enough proved to be likely by what we said in our Notes upon the former Epistle But it is better proved by the continual possession of those houses by the space of thirteen Ages until now as he afterwards observeth Though the length of an unjust Tenure increaseth the Transgression Having first proved the Donation he proceedeth thus Hoc Edictum à Graecis persidâ Donatione quâ juxta illud Virg. 2. Aeneid Timeo Danaos Dona ferentes donare solent acceptum mutilum esse ac dolosè depravatum hae rationes evidenter demonstrant These following reasons evidently shew this Edict of Constantine by the persidious Donation of the Greeks to be maimed and treacherously depraved He enters upon the business gently pretending at first as if the Donation were true that it was depraved by the Greeks But afterwards when he is a little warm in the Argument and somewhat further off from his Sophistical Defences he falls foul upon it as a Counterfeit and rejects it altogether as in the close will appear to the considerate Reader But here let us see what Arguments he produceth to prove it maimed and treacherously depraved 1. Because it pretendeth the Primacy of the Church to be granted by a Lay-man which was immediately given to Peter by God himself and by our Lord Jesus Christ as is manifest by those words Thou art Peter and upon this Rock will I build my Church 2. The Emperour by this Edict is made to give a Patriarchal Dignity to the Church of Constantinople Which if it be true how then could Anatolius the Bishop of Constantinople be said to take the Patriarchal Dignity to himself long after even after the Council of Chalcedon was ended Leo Gelasius and other Roman Bishops resisting him How could the Church of Constantinople be a Patriarchal See at this time wherein even the name of Constantinople was not yet given to Byzantium 3. This Edict was first published by Theodorus Balsamon out of the Acts of Sylvester the Pope falsly written in Greek under the name of Eusebius Bishop of Caesarea not that he might do any service to the Church of Rome but that he might shew the Patriarchate of Constantinople to be the eldest Which Acts of Sylvester were not known till a thousand years after Christ coming then forth in Eusebius his name out of a certain Book of Martyrs but were now increased by the Addition of this Edict of Constantine His design is if it be possible to clear the Church of Rome of this too palpable and notorious Counterfeit And for that end he would fain cast it on the Treacherous Greeks that he might thereby acquit the more Treacherous Romans Which he further pursues in the clause following The new found Hereticks that oppose this Edict of Constantine translated out of Greek into Latine with such great endeavour and impertinent study let them know that in this they rather further our Cause than fight against us Who do our selves with Irenaeus Cyprian and other Holy Fathers as well Greek as Latine profess the Priviledges of the Church of Rome not to be conferred and given of men but from Christ to Peter and from Peter to his Successors Where the 〈◊〉 are so great we need not make a Remark on the common Cheat his vain Brag of the Fathers But this we may observe that whereas the Popes Claim is somewhat blind to the Prerogative which is pretended to be given to S. Peter Binius hints at a proper Expedient to make it clear For suppose our Saviour made S. Peter the Rock on which he built his Church How comes the Pope to be that Rock Since S. Peter being an Apostle immediately inspired and able to pen Canonical Scripture some of his Prerogatives were Personal and died with him He tells you that the Priviledge was granted from Christ to Peter and from Peter to his Successors So that it was not Christ but Peter that gave it to the Bishops of Rome Now it would extremely puzzle him to shew where Peter gave that power to the Bishops of Rome in what place at what time by what Act before what Witnesses All he can produce is S. Clement's counterfeit Letter and that miscarries But in opposing the Edict of Constantine the Protestants further their Cause rather than fight against them Is not this a bold Aslertion Their Popes have laid Claim to the whole Empire of the Western World even by this very Edict or Donation of Constantine And yet the Protestants did nothing when they proved it to be a Forgery This Donation is an old Evidence proving the Divine Right of Peter's Primacy and the Popes Supremacy Did they promote their Cause that proved it to be a Cheat Certainly they that have Fingers so long as to grasp at an Empire and Foreheads so hard as to claim it by Frauds will stick at nothing they can conceive for their advantage Is it impertinent to discover Knavery in the Holy Roman Catholick Church or Imposture in the Infallible
Chair And together with the Credit of Rome to take away an Empire Besides the Spiritual Right of being the Rock there are ample Territories and Cities claimed with a Temporal Kingdom Let him therefore pretend what he will the Authority of such Instruments is very convenient And because he knows it well enough he produces the Diplomata or the Patents of other Kings and Emperours to confirm the Churches Secular Right extant as he saith in the Original with their Imperial Seals as particularly those of the Most Christian Princes of France restoring those things which the Longobards took away But he does not tell you by what Arts they got possession of those Territories at first nor by what Ancient Evidences Seals or Patents they held them before the Longobards touched them And because a Kingdom is of much Moment in the Church of Rome he further saith As for the Dominion of things temporal given to the Church herself proves them by the Broad Seals of the very Emperours giving them yet extant in the Originals and she quietly enjoyeth them How quiet her injoyment is you may see by that stir and opposition she meeteth and by all the clamour throughout the Christian World that followeth her Usurpations Which she defendeth here by the Seals of Emperours in general Terms but what Seals they are she scorneth as it were to mention in particular Which argueth her cause to be as Bad as her pretence is Bold But as for the Rights granted to the same Roman Church S. Leo Faelix Romanus Gelasius Hormisda Gregorius and other their Successors that flourished famously from the times of Constantine have defended them saith he not by the Authority of this Constantinian Edict but rather by Divine and Evangelical Authority against all the Impugners of them The man is warily to be understood for some of these whom he pronounceth as Defenders violently oppose their claim as Gregory in particular who for himself and all his Predecessors renounceth that Blasphemons Title which John of Constantinople first arrogated but the Bishops of Rome acquired afterwards by the Gift of Phocas the bloody Emperour So that all these are Mummers brought in as it were in a Masque to shew their vizars and say nothing For of all these Roman Bishops mentioned by Binius Gregory was the last who testifieth that none of his Predecessors ever claimed such a Title We may further note that he speak here with much Confusion because he speaks of the Rights granted to the Roman Church but does not distinguish between the Divine and Humane Rights of which he is treating For the Business he is now upon is the Temporal Klngdom in desending of which these Popes down to Gregory did forbear to use the Authority of this Constantinian Edict as he calleth it by way of scorn not because they had it not but rather as he pretends because they had no need of it having enough to shew by Divine and Evangelical Authority for the same Which is another pretence as bold and impudent as the former For I think none of his own Party will aver that the Bishop of Rome can claim a Temporal Kingdom by the Holy Scripture As for any other Claim by this Constantinian Edict or any Donation else of Emperours before the Longobards he slighteth all especially the Authority of this Constantinian Edict conceruing which he saith None of all those who sate over the Church before the year 1000. many of which saw the genuine Acts of Sylvester recited concerning which we spake above is read to have made any mention of this Edict For as much as the Counterfeit Edict was not yet added to the Acts by the Greek Impostors He does not tell us how he came to know that many of the Roman Bishops saw the genuine Acts of Sylvester before the year 1000. that being an Artifice or Color only as if there were two divers Books of Sylvesters Acts and the one a true one He tells us not a word of the Contents that were in them but he before told us plainly that the Acts of Sylvester the Pope were falsly written in Greek under the name of Eusebius Bishop of Caesarea that they were not known till 1000. years after Christ coming then forth in Eusebius his Name And now he telleth us as plainly that the Counterfeit Edict was not yet added to the Acts by the Greek 〈◊〉 The poor Greeks on whom he layes all the Load of Imposture never injoyed the benefit of these Acts nor ever pleaded the Imposture as the Latines did And in all likelyhood they made it that laid Claim and Title to the Supremacy by it Since therefore the Question is come to this Who were the Impostors we must define against him that the Counterfeit Edict was added to the forged Acts not by the Greek but Latine Impostors For how Counterfeit to ever he will have it Pope Adrian in his Epistle to Constantine and Irene which remains inserted in the Nicene Council recites this whole History almost in the same manner and so confirmes it by the Truth of this Edict As Binius himself telleth us on the words Ipse enim So that the Edict was pleaded long before the Greeks added it to the Acts of Sylvester For Pope Adrian died in the year 795 and the Acts of Sylvester were unknown till the year 1000. Yet this Adrian founded his Epistle to the Emperour and Empress in the second 〈◊〉 Council upon the truth of this 〈◊〉 And in very truth the Story he telleth is the same of Constantine's Leprosie c. contained in the Donation Which if 〈◊〉 had been pleased to remember was published by the Latines in Isidore Mercator's Collection of the Councils about the year 800. Where the Greeks in all probability first found it and were cheated as many Wiser men have since been with the appearance of it there So that searching it up to the Fountain Head it rests still among the Romans By the way to shew you that Binius is his Crafts-Master over against these words concerning Adrian before mentioned he putteth down that Famous Marginal Note Donatio Constantini confirmatur The Donation of Constantine is confirmed not by Binius as the simple Reader would suppose but by Adrian's Epistle recorded in the 2 Nicene Council and expresly containing the whole Fable of Constantine's Leprosie Vision and Baptism So that the first that ever knew it in the World for ought I can yet perceive was this Adrian of whom we have spoken somewhat before Now he comes to shew how greedily the Popes received this Cheat of the Greeks Among those who received the Acts of Sylvcster in good seoth corrupted thus with the addition of this counterfeit Edict by an evil Art and by the sorry faith of the Grecians carried out of the East into the West and that earnestly defended them as Legitimate and Genuine and pure from all fraud and Imposture the first is found saith he to be Pope Leo
great ease and satisfaction of the Roman Clergy For it reaches down you know to the lowest Orders of Readers and Door keepers So that they may write as many Forgeries as they will If it be a Pope no man can condemn him If it be a Bishop no less than threescore and twelve Bishops must on their Corporal Oath prove the Fact against him forty four Equals against a Cardinal-Priest twenty six must depose against a Cardinal-Deacon of the City of Rome and seven against a Door keeper all which must be at least his Equals A Marvellous Priviledge for the City of Rome Which word Rome though annexed only to Cardinal-Deacons yet for ought I know the Judge will interpret its Extent to all the other Orders or use it Equivocally as himself listeth or as his Superiour pleaseth So that in Causes pertaining to the Interest of the Roman Church other Priests perhaps beside them in the City of Rome shall enjoy the benefit of this Law but in Causes displeasing the Pope and his Accomplices none shall enjoy it but the Priests of Rome Many such Trap-doors are prepared in Laws where Rulers are perverse and Tyrannical and whether this be not one of those I leave to the Readers further Examination Mark succeeded Sylvester in the See of Rome Between whom and Athanasius there were certain Letters framed that stand upon Record to this day to prove the Canons of the Nicene Council to be Threescore and ten Heretofore they were good old Records magnificently cited but now they are worn out for Baronius and Bellarmine have lately rejected them who are followed by Binius as he is by Labbe and Cossartius and the Collectio Regia all concluding the Letters to be Forged The three last have this Note upon that of Athanasius Hanc Surreptitiam ab aliquo confict am fuisse quinque rationibus ostenditur c. That this Epistle is a Counterfeit devised by some body appeareth evidently by five reasons Whereof the first is this In the Controversie between the African Churches and the Roman Bishops Zozimus and Boniface concerning the number of the Nicene Canons this Epistle was unknown 2. Athanasius as is manifest by what went before was at this time fled into France and so it could not be written from Alexandria and from the Bishops in Egypt 3. That Divastation fell upon the Church of Alexandria many years after these times in the Reign of Constantius c. As Athanasius himself witnesseth in his Epistle ad omnes Orthodoxos 4. Mark died in the Nones of October this present year Constantine himself being yet alive 5. If Pope Mark had sent a Copy of the Nicene Council out of the Roman Archives to them at Alexandria surely the Roman Copy and that of Alexandria would have agreed thenceforth as the same How then were those three Canons wanting in the Copy which S. Cyril sent from Alexandria to the Africans which were found in the Roman Copy He pointeth to the Commonitorium sent from Rome to the Sixth Council of Carthage and verifies all the Story we have related by rejecting these Letters of Mark and Athanasius made on purpose to defend the Forgeries there detected For which he cites Baron An. 336. nn 59 60. and Bellarm. de Rom. Pont. lib. 2. cap. 25. This Epistle was alledged by Harding against Jewel and by Hart against Rainolds for a good Record How formally it was laid down by the Elder Collectors you may see with your eyes and may find it frequently cited by the most learned Papists Such as these being their best and only Evidences After Mark Julius succeeded The Epistle sent by the Bishops of the East to Pope Julius 1. is now confessed to be a Forgery Veram germanam non extare praeter authoritatem Baronii illud asserentis ea quae supra in principio Epistolarum Julii annotavi confirmant Saith Binius Again he saith This Epistle which is put in the second place bearing the Names of the Bishops of the East seems to be compiled by some uncertain Author both by the concurrent Testimony of Sozomen and Socrates and because thou mayest observe many things to be wanting and some in the words and things expressed to be changed Rescriptum Julii The Epistle which Julius returned in answer hath the like Note upon it Hanc mendosam corruptam a quodam ex diversts compilatam c. That this Epistle is counterfeit corrupt and compiled by some body out of divers Authors the Consulships of Felicianus and Maximianus evidently shew c. The matter in these Epistles is the Popes Supremacy the unlamfulness of calling Councils but by his Authority his Right of receiving Appeals with other Themes which Ambition and self Interest suggest and of which genuine Antiquity is totally silent Having so fortunately glanced upon that Sixth Council I shall not trouble the Reader with any more but bewailing what I observe beseech him earnestly to weigh this Business walking in the Dark and take heed of a Pope and a Church that hath exceeded all the World in Forgerie For let the Earth be searched from East to West from Pole to Pole Jews Turks Barbarians Hereticks none of them have soared so high or so often made the Father of Lies their Patron in things of so great Nature and Importance Since therefore the Mother of Lyes hath espoused the Father of Lies for her assistance and the accursed production of this adulterate brood is so numerous I leave it to the Judgement of every Christian what Antiquity or Tradition she can have that is guilty of such a Crime and defiled with so great an Off-spring of notorious Impostures AN APPENDIX Cardinal Baronius his Grave Censure and Reproof of the Forgeries His fear that they will prove destructive and pernicious to the See of Rome APiarius a Priest of the Church of Africa being Excommunicated by his Ordinary for several notorious crimes flies to Rome for Sanctuary Zozimus the Bishop receives him kindly gives him the Communion and sends Orders to see him restored Hereupon the African Churches convene a Council namely the sixth Council of Carthage whence they send a modest Letter but as Sincere as Powerful shewing how after all shifts and Evasions Apiarius had confessed his Enormities and that both the Nicene Council and clear Reason was against the disorder of such Appeals All Causes being to be determined in the Province where they arose by a Bishop Patriarch or Council upon the place Otherwise say they how can this Beyond-Sea Judgment be sirm where the necessary appearance of Witnesses cannot be made either by reason of weakness of Nature or Old Age or many other Impediments They decry the Innovation of the Bishop of Rome in arrogating that Authority lest the smoakie 〈◊〉 of the pride of this World should be brought into the Church of Christ. This Epistle is on all sides owned and confessed to be a good Record It was sent to Celestine the Successor of